Hey, Crimestopppers!
Ok, I won’t lie. There was a shooting two doors down from me on Wednesday morning. We’ve had problems with people thinking I’m a prostitute, but never did we imagine that a man would get shot when trying to stop some assholes from breaking into his car on the street. Here’s all the Post-Disgrace wrote: “A man was critically wounded in his home early Wednesday by shots fired from outside by someone apparently breaking into a car, St. Louis police said. David Schoenberger Jr., 27, was shot twice in the head shortly after 3 a.m. while in his living room in the 100 block of Eichelberger Street, at South Broadway, police said. He was in critical and unstable condition at a hospital. Neighbors told police they heard a car alarm going off, followed by two gunshots. Police discovered that a car parked below Schoenberger’s second-story window had damage to the driver’s door lock, and shell casings were found nearby. Detectives theorize that Schoenberger heard the alarm, saw someone tampering with the car below, yelled at the person through his window and got shot by slugs that went through a wall. ” This morning I got a call from the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer whom I had been in minimal contact with prior to this incident. I emailed him once after I got so riled up over the cat calls and male prostitution in the park up the street. His message said, “Hey Sarah, it’s Brian. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. After I heard the address of the shooting, I thought I’d just check up and make certain you were alright. Give me a call.” Now, if that’s not the nicest thing someone from the neighborhood association could do, I don’t know what is. He’s interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch Association, which I would gladly take part in. Along with the club I’ve obtained. My concern was how this ‘hood compares to others in terms of car theft, as this area’s been hit a few times in the past couple months. Yes, have a club on your wheel and don’t leave stuff on your seats and have a car alarm if you can, but if people are that intent on getting someone’s car and then go and shoot them when there’s an attempt to stop them, I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded the club or the lack of belongings on the seat. According to the February stats posted by the STL Metropolitan Police Dept, there were 1,065 auto thefts in St. Loius. 19 of those occured in my neighborhood, Mt. Pleasant, an area of just a few, if not a couple, square miles near Carondelet and Dutchtown. Out of the 89 neighborhoods logged, we ranked 19th in car thievery in February. There were a total of 130 last year, so we’re ahead of the game so far this year on average, with 12 in January and 19 in February. In terms of aggravated assult with a gun, there were 20 episodes last year, making Mt. Pleasant 34th out of the 89 ‘hoods. So far this year, there have been five incidents. What can stop this? Street lights? A Watch Association? Constant police surveillance? I’m sure that most of these thieves are not from around here, as this area is pretty damn nice compared to further north. Yes, it worries me, but this stuff can happen anywhere–even in the county.
